An altercation with colleagues or seniors at work is no big deal, but a similar incident among a few officers of the Railway Protection Force on duty made headlines Monday when the argument escalated and led to a fatal shooting incident that killed four persons, including an RPF sub-inspector and three passengers of the Jaipur-Mumbai Express train in which all of them were travelling.
The incident was reportedly sparked when accused Chetan Singh demanded to be relieved early and was denied the same by his senior, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tika Ram Meena. A viral video doing the rounds of social media since the incident purportedly shows Singh standing in a pool of blood, delivering a polarising political rant.
Visuals shared on social media, claiming to be from the said train at the time of the incident, showed the accused holding his weapon while making political comments that appeared to be targeted against Muslims. Three slain passengers were identified as Abdul Qadirbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala, Akhtar Abbas Ali, and Sadar Mohammed Hussain. AIMIM chief Assauddin Owaisi called it a targetted terror attack against Muslims as a result of continuous "anti-Muslim hate speeches". He also attacked the government for not putting an end to it.
HOW IT STARTED
According to the FIR, as reported by The Indian Express, Singh had told his superiors that he was unwell, and wanted to be relieved early from duty, but his request was turned down by his senior who asked him to complete his work hours. Following this, the situation took an ugly turn with Singh opening fire at ASI Meena, and later the three other passengers.
The IE report also quoted another RPF constable Amay Acharya’s statement to Borivali GRP in which he said: “Singh, Meena and three other ticket checkers had met me in the pantry coach in the wee hours on Monday. Meena told me that Singh is unwell after which I touched him to check but I could not gauge whether he had fever.”
He said Singh's repeated requests were turned down. His senior Meena then called the Mumbai Central control room after Singh's refusal to comply, but in vain. Acharya also said Meena had even called Assistant Security Commissioner Sujit Kumar and tried to make him understand but Singh was not ready to listen to anyone.
Acharya said he was sitting next to Singh, who suddenly snatched his rifle and even tried to strangle him when he resisted.
SINGH REFUSES TO CALM DOWN
“I was seated next to him while he was resting but after 10 to 15 minutes he suddenly got up and forcefully took the rifle from me. As I was not ready to give the rifle, he even tried to strangle me,” Acharya was quoted as saying by the report.
Later, he realised that Singh had accidentaly taken his rifle, fowlling which Acharya chased him along with other RPF officials and took back his weapon.
“Even while returning my rifle and taking possession of his own rifle, I saw that Singh was very furious. Meena was still trying to explain to him but Singh kept arguing. Even I intervened in between and tried to make him understand, but he was not listening to either of us. So I decided to go away from there,” Acharya statement as quoted by the report said.
As he was leaving, Acharya noticed that Singh was removing the safety catch of his rifle following which he informed Meena and they subsequently asked him to calm down.
Around 5 am, Acharya told the GRP, he got a call and was informed that Singh had shot Meena. “I was scared that he would fire bullets at me, so I went and hid inside the washroom,” the IE report quoted him as saying in the FIR.
PROBE LAUNCHED
Meanwhile, the Western Railway Police Commissioner had said that the accused had lost his calm and that there was no argument involved in the entire incident. The commissioner said that the constable was not feeling well when the incident occurred.
With questions now being raised about all the versions, a high-level committee headed by ADG/RPF (HAG) has been constituted to conduct a comprehensive inquiry. Meanwhile, a Mumbai court sent Singh to police custody until August 7.